Play Ball!

Play Ball!

By:

Gesenia Burley

The coach puts me in the game.

OH, The excitement I feel

Cannot be contained.

Could this possibly be real?

Like the joy of a child,

I jumped in and passed the ball.

At this point all seem mild;

The coach is proud, no bad calls.

Round 2, all things fail.

I’m in so much pain,

Because I trip and fell.

I hear the coach yelling my name.

He helps me up,

And sits me down on the bench.

Oh, the embarrassment! I felt like a scrub!

My fist begins to clench.

I hear my coach again yelling my name.

I walked up to him feeling quite ashamed.

He says, “Can you get back in the game?”

What me? I fell!

The coach says to me, “Can you accept life’s pain?”

Clearly not! I mean could he not tell?

I sit down and think about what the coach had meant.

Hmmm, for you see I will trip and fall again many times in the game of life;

And the pain will be immense.

Question is, Can I get up and fight?

Can I accept the falls in the game of life?

Will I give up in the game?

I think to myself: if I give up, I alone am to blame.

Because life’s games do come with a price.

So I decided to accept the price.

I grabbed a ball, a different ball; a basketball.

Yes, it’s true I’ll fall again but I am not giving up at all!

I’ll swim again but this time with a swimming device.